Variable width air curtain protected doorway



June 7, 1960 c. cAlLLE 2,939,374

VARIABLE WIDTH AIR CURTAIN PROTECTED DOORWAY Filed Oct. 25, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 wg- INVENTOR. CHARLES CA/LLE.

IWI/( I ATT fFNEK June 7, 1960 c. CAILLE 2,939,374

VARIABLE WIDTH AIR CURTAIN PROTECTED DOORWAY Filed Oct. 25, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q fl l lIlllll llllllll'lll 25 C gj INVENTOR.

CHA E155 CA /L/ ez ATT'O/V K Y.United States Patent .VARIABLE wm'rn AIR cURTAiN PROTECTED DooRWAY Charles Caille, Winterthur, Switzerland, assigner to Sulzer 4Freres, S.A., Winterthur,- Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland .i v

Filed oef. z5, 1957, ser. No. 692,299 4 Claims. (Cl. 98-36) 'The present invention relates to a doorway provided with an air curtain for separating the spaces connected 'by the doorway and more particularly to a system for changing therwidth of the doorway. The invention is'especially concerned with air curtain protected entrances .of sales rooms, particularly of selfservice stores. The space required in many sales rooms changes with the seasons and also during each day. The number of customers entering and leaving many stores diierent at diiferent days of the week and of the `month. Itv is, therefore,` desirable, if not necessary, to Vadjust the premises and particularly the size and location of their entrances and exits according to* the varying "numbers of customers. Y

` There is a rush of customers, for example, when holi days `are near or the'goods are sold at temporarily reduced prices requiring larger entrances, the rush being followed by a relatively quiet period during which thesize of the entrances and? exits canl be 'much reduced. To save heating cost it is desirable to have smaller*v entrances and exits in 'winter than in summer. In somecases it is also desired to change the location of the entrances and exits "i exits of a building-large enough tocope with the maximum trac so that they can be made smaller during periods-'of reducedvtratiicf 1 `For reducing the size ofthe entrance and/orexit openl' ings door elements maybe provided for-temporarily closing a portion-of -the openings. These elements may be revolvable, adapted to be lowered `through the oor or elevated through the ceiling, laterally movable, foldable, interchangeable, or adapted to be rolled up or to be mounted and demounted in any other manner. The door elements may be made of one piece or of a plurality of pieces.

The air curtain used for closing the rest of the opening which is not closed Iby a removable door element is curved towards the side of the opening where the air pressure is higher than on the other side fand the sheet of air forming the air curtain has a curved portion receding from the plane of the permanent wall and particularly from the plane of Ithe temporary closure means or door elements which are relatively thin. There are, therefore, spaces which are not properly closed by the air curtain. This situa-tion is aggravated if the opening to' be closed by the air curtain is between two temporary door elements.

The invention overcomes the aforedescribed diiculty by making the portion of the door element which is adjacent to the lateral edge of the air curtain foldable into a plane which is normal to the sheet of air forming the air curtain whereby the folded portion is at least as wideA as the curtain is deep. In this way the air curtain is laterally coniined :and has no part leaving a gap between the lateral connernents and the air curtain.

. m Patented June 7, 1960 In some cases it is "of advantage to make the air curtain V suicientlywide to overlap'the lateral door element by about one half of the depth of .the air curtain and to provide means for directing the ow of the overlapping portion of the air curtain sothat this overlapping portion is ina vertical plane and not curved.

The novel features which areconsidered characteristic of the iuvention'are'set' forth lwith particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, and additional objects -and advantages thereof will best be understood from the following description of embodiments thereof when read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which: v 4

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic vertical longitudinal sectional view of a doorway portion closed by an air Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of a doorway according to the invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of a modified doorway according to the invention.,

Fig. 4 is a `diagrammatic plan View of another modification of a doorway according to the invention.

Fig.5 isa diagrammatic plan view of a store having l side walls built according to the invention.

line VI--VI in Fig. 1;

Referring more particularly to Fig. l of the drawing,

. numeral .1 designates aspace which is separated from a .space 2 by means 'of lanair` curtain 7 lformedby blowing airthrough guide' vanes' 9vfrom a box 8 into a grate 5 from which .the airiswithdrawn through a duct 4. The "air .may be returnedV from the Aduct 4 to the box 8 by means of a blower 28. The louvers or vanes 9 are so placed that the air curtain 7 bulges towards the spaceV 1 to counteract an'air pressure-in the space 1 which is higher than the pressure in'the space 2. The box 8 is placedon the ceiling of' a doorway connecting the .spaces 1 and 2, the box 4 being placed 'at fthe bottom of the doorway. If it is desired to reduce the width of the 40' doorway,fapartition'iruay be'farranged to temporarily close a portion ofthe doorway. Such partitions are usu-ally quite thin-so'rthat a dead space -isformed at the inner side ofthe air'curt-ain adjacent to the lateral edge of the partition 3. This dead space connects the spaces 1 and 2 so that the air curtain forms an insufficient separation of. the. spaces 1 and 2 and will Abe disturbed by air flowing between the spaces.

Formation of a dead space as described in the paragraph next above is avoided according to the invention by foldably attaching by means of a hinge 23 a closure portion 10 .to the lateral edge of the partition 3 which extends 'into the doorway 11, as is shown in Fig. 2. The partition 3 is slidable into and out of a recess 21 in the wall 22 of the building. The cross hatched portion 15 of the doorway 11 is temporarily closed by the partition 3. The diagonally cross hatched portion 14 of the doorway is closed by the air curtain whose depth B is substantially the same as the width of the foldable portion 10 which extends normal to the plane E-E of the doorway. The grate 5 at the door of the portion 15 is covered by a slide 15" so that no air curtain is formed at this portion of the doorway. If desired, the'louvers 9 can be divided into individual sections so that the sections at the ceiling i 1'4" `of the V:diagonally hatched area 14'V extending l.beyond .the foldable portion .10' of the temporary closure means and the cross hatched portion 15' beingv correspondingly smaller. This is elected byblowing air not only-:facrossltheportion'14 rofthe .doorwayfbut also along the portion.of;.the'partition 3' extending in the yarea 14". Ithas been ounddesirableo make the Width Vof `tneivertical air streamat. least 'half as kgreat as the widthof'theportion 107.

InA the embodiment of the invention iismatea innig. 4

the "temporary closure of the doorway isformed by a .foldable partition comprising individualsec'tions 12'Which are vertically hinged by pivot 27' Vto 'each other and Vwhich'can .be folded as indicated bynumeral 12. .To the outermostsection acpanel 1 hinged whichl `in a VVposition*normal to thefplane of the doorway and has the same .effect as the portions 10, 10":in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. Numeral 26'desigr'1ates ra' guide channel for guiding one end of every 'other of the pivot'pins 27.

',Fig; 5 is "a plan view of a.s`tore,r.for exam-ple, 'a'V self- Y service store. The space'13 is closed on two sides by --wallsiA and B, the sides `C and Dbeing open.' Pillars 16 are provided on the'sides Cand YD and a'pillar '17 is proclosed so .that there `isno air curtain formed .adjacent .to

Athe panels 18: g

VVThe arrangement shown Ain 5 'aords rnany variafgtionspof thefsizeand location of the-passages 19'and 20. The arrangement'shown Yin Fig. 5 lis suitable for operation ofthe -storerinjzwinteig the :entrance passage 19 being Y V;"widerthanthelexitrpassage'fZDr Since'a largeA portion Vof, j gfhe`^doorway,.gavailable at theA sides 'Ciand Dv of the space n v 13, isclosecl-,niuch mQre'airfisaVailabIeQr forming the airgcurtainin 'thel doorways T19? .and-:201m that theYV air curtainl produced bytheair is moretelctivefor'separatf ing the 'heatedspace VV13 from the 'outsider than if`the "..passages 19 and 20'are wider. 'This is particularlyY true if vnot only theportions ofthe air receiving boxes 4 are covered adjacent to Vthe'closure panels 18 but also the .2,939,374 A K Y n i portions of the air'supply Ybox or duct 8 and/or' of Ythe louvers 9 which 'portions are adjacent .to the closure panels 18 are closed. Y.

If the open doorways are enlarged byremoving some Vof the panels 18, the flow intensity of the'air curtain is Vreduced so that yby rearranging the size of theY doorways according to weather condtirs the intensity of the air curtain is automatically. -adapted/to the Weather conditions Without the provisionofrcomplicated control devices. V Iclaim: 'A

, ljIn a doorway of1abiii1dngvthecornbination Ywith a movable closure .means iffortenporarily 'closing ia portion of the doorwayY and changing the Widthof the doorway opening,.of means producingsan curtain extend-k ing across Athe doorway,` saidair curtain producing means including means l`for changing the'width of the air curtain to conform substantially with'the widthY of the opening left .by said closure means.

2. In a doorwayofa building, .airoutlet meansplaced 20 along a portion of the A.periphery .of the doorway for-discharging air to produce extending acrosstbe doorway, air inlet means placed substantially opposite said .air outlet meansfalong anotherportion of the pe- Yriphery of the .doorway forreceiving the air discharged by said outlet .means and Yforming the air curtaimsaid outlet means and .said inlet Qnleans including movable closure meansfor changing the Width of 'said outlet-means land of saidinlet means andconsequently fthe width` of said aix-curtain, and movable closure Ymeans-fior closing theportion ofthe doorway which-.portion is not occupied by/the air curtain; Y' A Y e *l 3. In a doorway as dened in `gclainr `2Vllandgwherein 1 tion adapted `v`to extend ina plane which is normal tothe curtains' A plane ofthe 'doorway andwhich Cis adjallt .tosaid air l f4. In a doorway as defined and wherein. said xnovable closure .means y.is in rtllegforrn of '-a panel which Vis-slifclable in-its' plane, saidjpanel having a marginal por- '440'. 11'011 placedY within the,doorwayf.and extending into said .1 lair curtain. 1

VReferentesrflitedk.iirtbaiile oitlisA patent)v Y' 1j Unrrnn (STATES PATENTS 774,730 van Kamel-- Nev.`.s,1904 k983,877 .4..-- Feb.;14,1;911 1,173,555 ,Y caiawe111 Feb. 29, V1916 

